The rules here laid down, however, are much more observed in the breach than in the observance. In former times most descriptions of insects were written in Latin, but at the present time they are being described not only in English, French, and German, but many other languages difficult for the ordinary English student to translate, such as Russian, Bohemian, Hungarian, &c., so that it is very difficult in many instances to find out whether some generic names have any meaning. The difficulty of creating generic names with pure roots that are not preoccupied by previous writers is always increasing, and to save the trouble of going through the lists of genera already in use, many zoologists use the names of other naturalists, names of localities, or “nonsense” names compounded of a jumble of letters. Then, again, when the genus is an extensive one containing many species, the describer gives it the Latinised name of the collector or some friend he wishes to honour, so that we may come across both a generic and specific name that throws no light on the identity of the insect. As an example, _Grabhamia curriei_; Coquillett named this mosquito in the first instance _Culex curriei_, Currie’s mosquito, which was consistent, but Theobald found on subsequent examination that it belonged to his Genus _Grabhamia_, dedicated to Dr. Grabham. Even without these drawbacks, a beginner naturally finds the classification of insects a serious task, and the simple committing to memory of the scientific names a big undertaking; but when he has once grasped the rudiments, the system will soon appear to him. One of the most difficult things the popular writer meets with in scientific work is to find a suitable vernacular name to fit a common insect; a beetle may be bright yellow, with a brown head; the first man comes along and calls it the “Yellow-bodied Beetle,” another passes by and says it is the “Brown-headed Beetle,” yet neither would be quite accurate or define its main peculiarities. Again, we often find a popular name that designates a particular insect in one district is used for quite a different species in another part of the State: quite recently I asked several correspondents for specimens of the beetle in the Maitland district known as the “Jackeroi,” and had four distinct species of weevils forwarded under that name. The “Dicky Rice” is the name given to a tiny grey weevil (_Prosayleus phytolymus_) by the orchardists about Windsor, but in other districts it is used indiscriminately for a number of other weevils. Should any one take up a box full of unnamed and unclassified insects, he will feel like a stranger in a picture gallery without a catalogue; for, while everything is very beautiful, how much more interesting if he only knew something about the subject; for the same reason, each insect named and arranged has an individuality that it did not previously possess. DISTRIBUTION.